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Playing Bunkie Campbell on "Empire" has opened many doors professionally for the 44-year-old actor Antoine McKay. Yet one of the things that's meant the most to him was returning to metro Detroit in April to accept a Spirit of Detroit award from the Detroit City Council for his work on the hit Fox drama.

"They called and told me they wanted to give it to me, and I cried. I really did," says McKay, who grew up in Inkster and lives now in Chicago.

Bunkie was bumped off during the first episode of "Empire." But the character still had an impact on the first season, which concluded in mid-March. He popped up in many flashbacks and made a ghostly return at the season's end.

Asked if there's a chance Bunkie could resurface on the second season (hey, stranger things have happened on prime-time soaps), McKay replies with a laugh, "As of right now, I am not at liberty to say or know."

Antoine McKay(Photo: Antoine McKay)

The married father of six was in Detroit last month to appear in a short film called "24/7." He is an alumnus of Wayne Memorial High School and Eastern Michigan University, where he honed his theater skills. He went on to spend about seven years at Second City Detroit with colleagues like Keegan-Michael Key of Comedy Central's "Key and Peele" and Marc Evan Jackson of Fox's "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." At one point, he recalls, he was the first improv teacher there for Tim Robinson, who later joined the cast and writing staff of NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Second City years

McKay moved to the Windy City in 2003 to join the famous Second City main stage there. Since then, he has done film and TV work and launched a company that instructs business leaders in the techniques of improv. But he didn't know what was in store when his agent called about auditioning for a Lee Daniels project being filmed in Chicago.

At first, he assumed it was for a movie, since Daniels was the director of hits like "Precious" and "The Butler." But it turned out to be "Empire," a new TV show about a hip-hop dynasty.

McKay says that Daniels had been in the Motor City prior to his audition. "I started talking with him about a barbecue place in Detroit (the closed landmark Mr. Fo-Fo's Delicatessen)," he recalled. "Then I read for him and he really liked it. The next day, I got a phone call that he wanted me to be on the show. I was just blown away."

Although he assumed it would be one episode and done after reading the pilot, he soon found out Bunkie had a way of coming back again and again. And he says "Empire" has been a game-changer for his career.

"I've been offered jobs without even auditioning for them. I've been offered opportunities to come in and audition for things I might not have before."

It's also helped him in his various educational roles, which involve teaching a few times a month at the University of Notre Dame and at a juvenile detention center where the young people he meets are amazed when they meet him.

"When I walk into that room, if I had walked in a year ago, I don't think I would have had the rapport that I have of them saying, 'Hey man, you're Bunkie!' It was amazing how that worked."

In April, he filmed "24/7" on Detroit's west side. Set in the illegal drug trade, it concerns a teenager trying to make his way through what the movie describes as "his final day of hustlin'." McKay plays the second-in-command of a drug ring. The project is written, directed and co-produced by his friend Tito Calloway, who's originally from Detroit.

"It's not pretty at all, but it's very real," says McKay of the storyline. " 'Empire' happened. (Calloway) gave me a ring and said, 'I have this great new film. I'd love you to be in it.' I said, 'Sure.' He said "We're shooting in Detroit' and I was like, 'Aww, that's even better.' "

Calloway, whose wife Meghann Skipper is producing the film for their production company, 8 Moon Media, described McKay as "the best" during the weeklong shoot with a cast of newcomers.

"Being a mentor to the young actors on set, he brings a professionalism and aura, giving me nothing but support," says Calloway.

Next up for McKay is going to Atlanta for a role in "Keeping Up with the Joneses" starring Zach Galifianakis, followed by more films. But he'll always find time for the place where he got his start.

"If you ask me, Detroit is the best city in the world, man," he says. "Great stories have struggle, and great stories of struggle create perseverance and hope. That's Detroit."